A life of knitting, DIY projects and the food that fuels it all

Tag Archives: DIY

Next up in the entryway makeover: Getting rid of this useless box of ugly right next to the door – it’s a control panel for an old alarm system the previous owner had installed. It’s really on there and we’re kind of afraid to remove it for fear of setting off a screeching alarm we’d be totally powerless to stop.

This is what happens when I ask my mom for a mousepad. I have no idea what Korean beauty product this is advertising and the girl’s cute and all, but it’s not exactly something I want to see every time I use my computer. So I turned to some easy materials to spruce it up! Continue reading →

Time for the final reveal of my bathroom mini makeover! I say mini because I didn’t make any drastic changes like wallpaper or new fixtures. But I was able to inject a lot of personality and fun into what was once a chaotic, bland mess. And I did it using almost no money and no permanent damage to the walls!

I like to keep things simple. This happens to overlap a lot with keeping things lazy. But simple sounds better so we’ll stick with that =)

I knew I wanted to add some personality to my bathroom wall and I already had a can of gray paint, but I didn’t want to get out a tray and roller and painter’s tape and all that. So I got a little creative. Find out what I did with a piece of cardboard, some paint and a single brush after the jump!

When I lived in New York, I loved going to the Brooklyn Flea Market and spending the afternoon browsing and eating freshly-made pupusas and treating myself to dessert at the food trucks. On one trip, I spotted these carved oval frames and knew that a little paint would take them from old fashioned to happy chic. See what I did with them after the jump!

First of all, that ain’t small. And what magical family has just two pairs of shoes and a ceramic vessel in their entryway?? I’m Korean and my roommate is Vietnamese and our entryway needs to work WAY harder than this. I’m talking Size 13 shoes (his, obviously) and mail and packages and puppy paraphernalia and a mirror and keys. Not to mention it’s tiny (3.5 ft x 6 ft) and the front door swings INTO it and it all leads into a real narrow hallway.

No wonder it looks like this at the moment:

Sad and random; somehow sparse and cluttered at the same time. In other words, FAIL. After six months of living with this disfunction, this area is next on my DIY list. And since I’ve never been a just-do-it kinda gal, I had to round up some helpful inspiration first.

Lots of shoe storage~~This Ikea piece doesn’t fit in our entryway, but it does hold tons of shoes and the top can stash keys and coupons and such~~via IHeart Organizing

Organized space for mail~~Mounting Ikea desktop organizers to the wall as small, functional shelves is kind of genius~~via ApartmentTherapy